Emma & Ben… Far From Home

Melbourne 6th-10th and 16th-17th January 2017

The first country on our round the world trip? Australia!!! The home of Crocodile Dundee, Kylie Minogue, a shed load of animals that can kill you and Dr. Karl Kennedy. Our first stop in Australia? Melbourne.

Fun fact!!! The founding father of Melbourne was…duh-nuh-duh-nuh-duh-nuh-duh-nuh… BATMAN! John Batman, that is. And Melbourne was originally called Batmania, until the mid-19th century when some suck-up decided to spoil all the fun and rename the city after Lord Melbourne (the British Prime Minister at the time), most likely to try and get a promotion or something. Anyway, disappointing name changes aside, what did we think of the city?

We loved Melbourne, and could happily live there (don’t worry mum, I have no plans to emigrate just yet). I’ve heard it said that Australia is like England in the sunshine. There is a certain truth to this, but I found Melbourne far preferable to almost all of the English cities I’ve visited. The atmosphere is very relaxed and the people are very friendly (noticeably more so than London, and to a lesser extent Birmingham). The city is clean, green, has a love for coffee and sport (they have 2 bank holidays to celebrate sporting events!), has some great street art and is generally very pretty; there are some lovely old colonial-era buildings dotted around. And yes, the weather is better (although 38°C on our first day was a bit much).

Is there a downside? Well… there is one. Those of you that know me will be aware I am generally… ‘careful’ with my money.  Unfortunately, the beer here was bloody expensive (I nearly fell over when a barman told me the pint I ordered was AUS$12 (about £8). I suppose you can’t have everything.

Me and my AUS $12 pint!

On our first day in Melbourne we did a “free” walking tour (technically free although you are expected to tip at the end). The guide was a local lad called Desmond, and – aside from the slightly awkward moment when he made a truly atrocious attempt at a Brummie accent – the whole tour was fantastic. Desmond was very engaging, genuinely funny, had a passion for his home town and was full of interesting facts. It allowed us to get a feel for the city and helped us get to know our way around. We will probably do a few more of these on the trip (and for those of you wondering, despite my financial prudence I did tip generously at the end, as it was so good).

Other things we did and would recommend doing include:

• The Queen Victoria Market – the largest open air market in the Southern Hemisphere. It was amazing – there were a variety of stalls selling all manner of delicious treats. We used it to get some supplies for our picnic in the gardens (see below)

• The Botanical Gardens – where we had a lovely walk and a picnic

• The Shrine of Remembrance – a tribute to the war dead of the state of Victoria that provided superb views over the city

• Drinks by the Yarra River with an old travelling companion of mine

• The Australian Open – we booked tickets months in advance for this, and it was bloody brilliant. We got to see Roger Federer in action! (Em enjoyed it slightly less than me as she doesn’t actually like tennis much)

• Melbourne State Library – worth a visit to see the domed reading room

The only thing we didn’t enjoy was Captain Cook’s Cottage – basically it was the old cottage owned by the Cook family that was taken apart in England and shipped brick by brick to Melbourne. It was really weird and it turns out nobody is sure Captain Cook ever lived in it anyway.

At the end of our time in Melbourne, we didn’t really want to leave. We’d like to think that one day we will return, but with Australia being so far away, it sadly won’t be for a while.

(Posted by Ben)